Category: Living the RV Dream Podcast

Podcast Changes

Hello Happy Campers! This morning we’ll talk about Podcast Changes and how they will improve the Living the RV Dream Podcast. But first a little history.

Radio Days

In the fall of 2008, our son, who was a radio producer in Sarasota Florida, called us with a proposal. He had lost a sponsored show during the important Saturday morning “drive time”. Perhaps we could come in and do an RV show for him? We knew NOTHING about radio or broadcasting. Kathy and I looked at each other and said “why not?” That next Saturday morning, Living the RV Dream was born. Steve was a great coach and made us quite comfortable. “What should we say?”, we both asked. Steve said just talk about RVing, its your passion. And so we did. That was on WSRQ, a very small station with great reach due to an internet feed.

A Podcast is Born

We did the show every week for over 4 months and then it was time for us to get moving as it would soon be pretty hot in Florida. What about the show? We had now gained a nice sized internet audience anoong with some dedicated local listeners. That’s when I discovered podcasting. It was pretty new then having only been around for a few years, but I dived right in and learned all I could. Six weeks later we were ready and we launched our first podcast. That was LTRVD0001. The sound was a little rough around the edges, but were now broadcasters!

We grow as Podcasters

As we got more and more comfortable with doing the show, we learned how to make the sound better and invested in some new equipment to help us do the work easier. We started attending RV shows as members of the “Press”. What a hoot! We would get in free to events we loved and talk about them on our show. How cool was that?! We did many interviews with other RVers and folks in the RV industry. We started a little Facebook group for our listeners. I started a web site. We were filling up our retirement time as “Media People”…LOL! Then you listeners ganged up on us by email and said we needed to write a book of all things. And we did…twice.

Its 2017 Already

All that started 8 years ago. We’ve put a lot of miles on our rig, the Dream Machine since then. We were on the road a total of 12 years and loved every minute of it. Most of you know of Kathy’s near fatal illness 2 years ago that put her in the hospital for a month after major surgery. Then 2 more months of rehab here in Sarasota. She started getting stronger and better and we decided to answer another request from our listeners and have a rally. We have done 2 Living the RV Dream “Gatherings” since then. Early this year Kathy had another medical setback and we realized we would no longer be able to live on the road. We bought a house and said goodby to our faithful rig that carried us across the country so many times. Now it will serve a new owner and their RV Dreams.

Future of the Podcast

We have known for some time that we cannot keep up the podcast without actually RVing. This has been a gut-wrenching decision. We knew that the show should go on and it definitely will. Our friend Robert Morales will be taking over Living the RV Dream starting on Friday morning the 24th of this month. Robert has attended one of our Gatherings as well as interviewed us on his own “Traveling Robert” video series. He will bring new life to the podcast as well as a new perspective as a part time RVer. He has great talent as a videographer as well so expect to see some video content to the show. Here is the link to iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/living-the-rv-dream-with-traveling-robert/id1214836120 Please migrate over to that URL and continue to enjoy the Living the RV Dream podcast. Here is a link to his website http://www.travelingrobert.com/

Whats ahead for John and Kathy?

We are not going away from the RV scene just yet. We will guest host with Robert from time to time. We will maintain the Living the RV Dream website as well as the Facebook Group by the same name. Robert will take over the Living the RV Dream Podcast group. We are taking it day by day now as Kathy begins to build back her strength. I plan to get back to my new book project on RVing Arizona. We will still answer questions as well as we can from our email address at johnandkathyhuggins@yahoo.com .

Tiffin Service Announcement

The Tiffin Company has issued a Tiffin Service Announcement letter changing the criteria by which Tiffin motorhome owners can get factory service. Now, only rigs 4 years old or newer will get the full service package after waiting for a service bay. Others may wait for a service job that can be done by 2 technicians in 3 hours. This is a major change from one of the very best and generous service policies in the industry. There are too many Tiffin products and too few service opportunities to accomodate them all.

Annual Calendars

Save those annual calendars on which you write reservations, appointments, and other travel data. It is a great record to look back on and leave to your kids as a record of your travels. We have all the calendars we used in 12 years on the road. We also enabled the time and date feature of our camera so we can look back and see what we were doing in any given year.

Our 2007 travels

We used those calendars and dated pictures to do this show about our 2007 camping year.

Our Second Year RVing

Our second Year RVing was 2006. We wintered in Southern California and southwestern Arizona. Then we moved up through Arizona as April started and then on to South Dakota. We spent April through July at the Hart Ranch RV Resort. Then a quick trip to Ohio to check on our oldest son Steve’s health, and then back out west to Arizona for the winter. We flew to Maryland to spend the Christmas holidays with our younger son Matt.

Joshua Tree National Park

We loved our stay in and around Joshua Tree National Park. The California high desert along with the huge rock formations and the Joshua trees themselves were all awesome.

Quartzite, AZ RV Show

This was our first visit to the Quartzite RV show. We boondocked there with friends from Escapees RV Club Chapter 36. We had a super time and have made several trips back over the years.

Our Campsite at Quartzite

Julian, CA and San Diego, CA

Julien is named the Apple capital of California and it is aptly named. We spent a nice afternoon with friends at Mom’s Apple Pie shop there. Then we camped near San Diego and did a whale watch cruise along with a San Diego harbor cruise. We also went to the San Diego Zoo Wild Animal Park. Awesome!

at the San Diego Zoo Wild Animal ParkThe line to get in Mom’s Apple Pie

Jerome, AZ and Sedona, AZ

We have moved on to Arizona’s Verde Valley where we went to the Tuzigoot National Nonument and then up to Sedona and the Red Rocks Park. Kathy and I also toured Oak Creek Canyon north of Sedona.

Williams, AZ and the Grand Canyon Railway

Our main goal of 2006 was to see the Grand Canyon and we did it in style. We took the Grand Canyon Railway train up to the canyon and then back to Williams, AZ.

Hart Ranch and the Black hills of SD

2006 once again found us workamping at the Hart Ranch RV Resort near Rapid Cikty, SD. We received a spring surprise there when 6 inches of show fell on our second day in the park. The Iron Mountain road was the focus of an entire day exploring in the Custer State Park. June found us at the Wild Horse Sanctuary, a very worthwhile tour.

Spring surprise at our campsite at Hart Ranch

Black Hills Tour

I think an area tour is a most worthwhile thing to do in a new to you area. We took a Black Hills area tour that included: a movie set from Dancing with Wolves, the Spearfish Canyon scenic drive, the South Dakota Western Heritage Museum, the Homestake Gold mine, Deadwood, SD with it’s cemetery named Mount Moriah.

Wrapping up 2006

We had to leave the Black hills sudenly to see our son Steve in Ohio who was diagnosed with a serious cancerous disease that turned out to be Cat Scratch Fever. Then we scooted back out west to Arizona for the winter with a quick plane trip to Maryland to do Christmas with our other son.

Our First Year RVing

The year is 2005, and the topic is LTRVD0404 Our First Year RVing. We were able to sell 2 houses at the top of the market and start looking for a suitable RV. We made a visit to Lazy Days in Tampa, FL and found our dream rig, a 2004 Fleetwood Expedition.

February/March

After purchasing our rig on the last day of February, we left it at Lazy Days and went home to get rid of most of our “stuff”. Between our kids picking up a truck load and a couple of garage sales, we pared all our stuff down to a manageable stack. We picked up the rig mid month and did our shake-down at the Sun-n-Fun RV resort in Sarasota, FL.

April

After the initial week or two at Sun-n-Fun, we headed back to Lazy Days to have our car set up for towing at the Camping World store that used to be there. Almost $3,000 later, we were all set to begin flat towing our 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe. Eventually, we put almost 60,000 miles dragging it around the country before replacing it with a 2014 Honda CRV.

May/June

We departed the Sarasota area in early May headed for South Dakota. Along the way we made stops to see friends and family. The first stop was in Charleston, SC to see the city and visit long-time friends John and Adrienne, who would later buy their own RV. After touring the city, we left to visit our youngest son and his family in Maryland and We stayed at the Bar Harbor RV Resort nearby. We would come to visit that park several more times over the years. We had a great time with son Matt and his family. We stayed a week, but the road was calling.

July

Early in July we stopped near Bellfountaine, OH to visit our oldest son Steve and his family. It was there where we did our first “Black Water Dance”. Then we were off to Wooster, OH and the Chapter 36 rally there. It was our first Escapee Rally and it was great. The road was still calling and we headed west towards our goal of reaching Mount Rushmore. First up was a one night stay in Sioux Falls for our SD license plates, driver’s licenses, voting registration, and SD insurance. Then we got out on I-90 and reached the town of Mitchell and the main attraction there, the Corn Palace. Next was Wall, SD and a visit to both Wall Drug Store and the Badlands National Park.

Kathy and I finally ended up in Rapid City, SD and stayed at Hart Ranch RV Resort, which turned out to be our summer home for 4 out of the next 5 summers. We did a lot of touring making stops at Mt. Rushmore (finally!), Bear Country USA, the Crazy Horse Memorial, and the first of many trips to Custer State Park.

August-October

We started workamping at Hart Ranch, and during our off days, we visited the Iron Mountain Road inside Custer State Park, the Mammoth Dig in Hot Springs, the towns of Deadwood, Lead, and Sturgis. We were in Sturgis during the Bike rally. Leaving Sturgis, we went through the town of Spearfish and did our first tour of the Spearfish Canyon Scenic Drive. It was awesome!

November

We went to the Escapees Escapade in Illinois in 2005 and we became DOVEs. That stands for Disaster Operations Volunteer Escapees. Immediately after the rally, we were sent to San Antonio, TX to a shelter for folks from New Orleans. Quite an interesting 3 weeks. Then we went over to Livingston, TX to the Escapees CARE Center where we volunteered for 10 weeks. Probably our very best volunteer gig ever.

Selling an RV

This shortened show is about selling an RV. We received an email asking us about how to sell an RV. She didn’t provide specifics, so I will try to give some tips for selling both motorized RVs and towable rigs.

What is Your RV Worth?

We talk about some sources of information about the value of used RVs., The best we have found comes from the Facebook group RV Pricing and Values. The Group Owner, David Lester, has a standard product that is “a $30 per RV standard “RV Trade in Value Report” appraisal that shows Wholesale / Trade in Value, ACV (actual cash value) pricing done by a current Buyer at one of the largest RV dealers in the country ready to buy your RV, and suggested sell or buy price range specifically for your RV from professional RV dealer buyers and brokers.”